National Homeschool Cookie Baking Day

That's what my kids called yesterday! Every year we take one day, put all schoolwork away, and turn the kitchen into a complete bake shop, turning out cookies, fudge, and candies by the dozens. This year was no different...except that by the time the afternoon rolled around and we had cookies stacked everywhere, there was a knock on the door. When we answered it, we greeted the homeschoolers from across the street, who had done the same exact thing and were bearing gifts of truffles and cookies for us! They came in and laughed when they saw our big mess....

So my kids officially named the day "National Homeschool Cookie Baking Day"!!!

I think it's important to not only make good memories, but to teach the girls that Christmas is not all about spending lots of money you don't really have on meaningless gifts. While we do exchange gifts, we try to not have that be the focus. Taking a day to do baking, and packing up the cookies to take and deliver to friends and family is very rewarding because the kids know they had a big part in it. I have been watching sales and using coupons and stocking up on baking ingredients for a couple months now. We were able to turn that small investment into a big yield of treats! It was great to know that we now have gifts from our heart and hands to share with a lot of people. The girls proudly packaged some up already, and enjoyed filling out the little cards that said "Baked by..." with their own names.

There's a lot of little life lessons that you can teach your children by baking with them. You can show them the value of doing things right, even the smallest details, because it really does matter in the end when you have a good product to show for it. You can also learn a lot about working together and not scolding each other when a mistake is made. As my older ones have learned, if you clean as you go, the mess at the end of the day is not so bad! There is also great satisfaction in seeing the recipient of your gift enjoy the fruit of your labors.

And when you have students who are equally as interested in photography as they are baking, well....you can do double duty by not just having a "home ec" day but also photography practice!!!  Here are some "foodie" pictures from our cookie baking day, taken by Laura! Enjoy!